Loaiza chosen as Dodgers' fifth starter over Park

Esteban Loaiza looked up curiously when he was approached at his locker by a small band of reporters on Friday.

"What did I do?" he asked.

Unbeknownst to him, Loaiza had been selected the Dodgers' fifth starter by Manager Joe Torre before the Dodgers' 3-1 exhibition victory over the Boston Red Sox at Dodger Stadium.

Here's more of what Loaiza hadn't been told: He'll make his season debut on April 8 in Arizona, the first of four scheduled starts in the opening month of the season.

"That's good to hear. I'm more hungry after what happened to me last year," Loaiza said, referring to a season in which he pitched only seven games because of back and knee injuries. Loaiza was waived by the Oakland Athletics and acquired in August by the Dodgers, who also picked up his $6.5-million salary for this season.

The guaranteed contract was the reason why Loaiza was favored over Chan Ho Park, who was in camp on a minor-league deal, to win the job that was left vacant by the rehabilitating Jason Schmidt.

"I can say I have a lot off my shoulders because Chan Ho was pitching so great," said Loaiza, who enters his last start of the spring tonight at the Coliseum with a 4.20 earned-run average in 15 innings. Three of the seven runs he gave up came in his first Grapefruit League appearance, which lasted two innings.

Park, who will also make his final outing of the exhibition season tonight, has a 1.69 ERA in 16 innings. Like Loaiza, Park didn't know that Torre had reached a decision.

"That's not what I expected, but we'll see," Park said.

Torre said that Park could remain with the club as a long reliever, but pitching coach Rick Honeycutt hinted that he might be sent to triple-A Las Vegas to increase his pitch count so that he could be ready to start for the big-league club if necessary.

Final roster decisions will be made Sunday.

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Jeff Kent started at second base and batted fourth in an effort to get the at-bats he needs to be ready for opening day. Because of a strained right hamstring, the 40-year-old Kent hadn't played since March 4 in Vero Beach.

Kent played five innings and was one for two with a stand-up double to right-center that drove in Andre Ethier in the fourth. The decision to play came after Kent ran the bases in pregame warmups and took batting practice.

"We know we're running out of time," Kent said the previous day in Anaheim.